LEGIONS OF THE DARK (VAMPIRE NATIONS CHRONICLES) (30 page)

As he stared at her, he turned all his attention inside himself, feeling the molecules that made up his physical body begin to spin and bump one off the other. The world outside dimmed only a moment as he transformed, and then it was bright and real again. Directing his attention to where Dell had been standing beside him he saw that she was coming along nicely, her corporeal body shimmering as if stars danced inside the shell of her skin. She winked out, at least to the human eye, but he could sense the darkness she became, darker than the surrounding night, and he tugged at her, bringing her with him as he ascended toward the sky.

She was crying out for him, terrified, and he sent her soothing thoughts. She would have to learn how to do this on her own eventually. It would not terrify her then. He sped with her clasped tightly to his consciousness across the skies and higher, higher until they were beyond the atmosphere and the world below looked like a blue globe swirling coldly through black space.

He was taking her to the monastery. It was located half a world away from Dallas, Texas, in a remote region of Thailand. Vampire monks had inhabited it for centuries. The monks were the guards, unusual men who devoted their lives to the monastery. Had they been human, they would have been men who joined a religious retreat. Mentor's clan kept it as a safe place, or used it as a prison when needed.

Mentor and Dell descended in a flash, the world having turned enough that Thailand was just below them. Pulling Dell along with him, he drew her earthward again and through the red-tiled roof of one of the monastery's buildings arranged in a semicircle in the isolated enclave.

Then he let her go.

With his silent guidance she began to shimmer into existence from the darkness. He also waited for his own molecules to group again, creating the being known as Mentor.

They stood on a stone floor in a dim room with thick wooden rafters overhead. It was a gloomy, damp place, smelling of wet stone and rusty iron.

Gasping for breath, the way a mortal might, Dell jerked this way and that, throwing out her arms and twirling. He touched her arm and she was suddenly still, her eyes focused on his. "Dell? You're all right. You're in your body again."

She glanced down at herself with surprise. "What happened? I thought I saw the Earth at my feet. It was making me sick. I thought I'd passed out. Where are we?" She looked finally around at their surroundings.

"We descended so high into the stratosphere that the Earth turned below us. When we descended, we were at another place on the globe. We can do that, with practice. I'm sorry it shocked you so badly, but this was important to your development."

"And this place?"

She wrapped her arms around her body and shivered, looking around the dismal room.

"It's our safe, secure place. We're in Northern Thailand. This is an old monastery and the original order of monks deserted it a long time ago. We took it over. Now it's run by monks who are like us."

"Naturals?"

"Well, not really. They actually border on being Predators. They have, shall we say, 'aggressive' instincts. They stay here. Some have been here for centuries."

"Oh, yes, she is." He took Dell's hand and whisked her down a corridor. As they passed one of the hooded monks, Mentor nodded and the monk barely acknowledged them with a glance before moving on.

"They're not surprised we're here?" Dell asked, looking back at the monk as his orange robe swept along the stone floor behind him.

"No, I come here quite often. They know me well."

Mentor led her down stone steps into an underground corridor, this one with low, soot-stained ceilings. Electric lights hadn't been installed. Iron sconces flickered with candlelight. Along each side of the corridor were cells with iron gates that served as doors. Mentor paused at one. He brought a key from his pocket and slipped it into the large black iron padlock hanging from a hasp. He unlocked it, and swung open the heavy door. "Go in," Mentor said.

Dell stepped inside and moved toward a figure who had its back to them at a primitive oak writing table. As Dell approached, she saw it was a woman. Her hair was long, to her waist, and very shiny, sparkling with light from the candle sitting on the table next to her. She was dressed in a plain dark dress that buttoned at her throat. Around one of her ankles Dell saw an iron collar attached to a heavy chain. "Hello?" Dell said.

The woman did not turn. She said, "Mentor, your little new-girl vampires are a bore to me. How many years do I have to bear this intrusion?"

"As long as there are others like you," he said. He touched Dell's arm and said, "Madeline here was like you. She fell in love with a mortal. Didn't you, Madeline?"

"You tell the story, Mentor. I'm busy."

"Madeline is writing her memoirs." Mentor indicated the shuffled papers on the desk. "Madeline is kept here for her own good. When her mortal lover died, she tried to kill herself. But first, she tried to attract attention from the world media. She was going to cause a scene, weren't you, Madeline?"

"As if you didn't!" Madeline turned in the chair, her long hair swinging wide over her shoulder. Her face was deformed with rage. Her incisors showed, her lips were pulled back from all her teeth, and they shone yellow in the light filtering in from the barred corridor.

Dell turned to Mentor. "What does she mean?"

"I'll tell you what I mean, girl. Mentor fell in love and married a mortal, too. He should be here with me, chained for eternity in a cell with nothing of the world but paper and pen."

Mentor spoke softly, "Madeline, I didn't lose my mind when I lost my mortal."

Madeline rose and Dell stepped back, startled. Mentor stood his ground.

"Oh, didn't you?" she shouted. "Didn't you lose your mind, Mentor? Are you saying you're impervious to the pain of separation? That you're heartless? That you didn't beat your breast and weep and gnash your teeth?"

"Calm down, Madeline. You get this way every time I come to visit. It's tedious."

"And why shouldn't I get enraged?" The chain attached to her ankle and connected to the wall clinked like doom as she stepped toward them. "Why shouldn't I let your little secret out? You're as mad as I am. You've been mad for a hundred years!"

Mentor saw her rash movement coming a second before she made it. She always attacked him. She was always furious when he brought a youth to see her, to witness her madness and imprisonment. He reached up and grabbed her raised clawed hand before it could touch him. "We're leaving now, Madeline. You're a terrible hostess. You need to work on your manners."

Now the chained woman went for him tooth and claw. Mentor threw her back against the writing desk and ushered Dell through the open door before Madeline could recover. He swung the door shut with a crash and with his key locked the door.

He looked at Dell. "Do you understand?"

"Was she right? Did you love a mortal, too?"

"Yes, I did. And that's why I want to spare you that kind of pain. Madeline never got over it. You can see she's insane and vengeful. She would tear me apart if she could. She'd do great damage if she were let loose in the world. She wants to bring us all down. Make sure we're hunted and found and killed. It's her mission now, so of course we can't allow her freedom. Ever again."

"Why doesn't she do what we did? Transform and leave?"

"Someone's attention is turned on her all the time, every second. One of the monks is assigned to her. Many of the captives here don't know they can transform, but Madeline knows. She was quite talented in her day. And she knows she wouldn't get far. Her monk would come for her and bring her back within seconds. It would be a useless gesture on her part. Not that she hasn't done it. But she's given all that up now and sits in the cell, finally realizing there is no escape."

Mentor led Dell up the stairs. As they stood in the big open room where they'd first appeared, monks silently came and went, hoods shielding their faces, ignoring the presence of the two outsiders.

"I don't want this for you, Dell." Mentor hoped she could see what might happen to her if she continued falling in love with her young man.

"But you didn't really lose your mind, did you, Mentor?"

"No. At least not to the extent Madeline did. And others like her. They're all here, locked away for their own good. For the sake of us all."

"But it's my choice, isn't it, Mentor?"

Mentor sighed. "Yes," he said. "It's your choice. I've just shown you the usual repercussions of such a choice. I only want to help you, Dell."

"I'll think about it."

Mentor took her arm and said, "Yes, you must. You must think about it."

This time, knowing it was time to go, Dell began to transform before Mentor had to bring her along. Soon they were but heavier clouds of darkness near the rafters and then they were beyond the red-tiled roof and the green treetops, rising rapidly through clouds into cold dark space.

~*~

"Where are we?"

Mentor had set them down on the sidewalk in front of Bette Kinyo's house. He turned to Dell, who was just finishing returning to her body. She was yet a bit transparent, but even as he watched, her body filled in and was whole again. She had already learned enough to transform and reappear on her own at will.

Mentor glanced around to be sure there was no one nearby who might have seen them. He had checked before appearing, but he always had to make sure. Seeing the sidewalks empty, the curtains in the houses closed, he was sure they had gone undetected. He answered Dell's query. "We're in Dallas again, in front of a house owned by a woman named Bette. She's a . . . a beautiful Japanese-American female."

"This woman has stumbled onto us. She's psychic and possesses powers of a true wizard, or medium, if you like. If Ross had had his way, she'd be dispatched by now. For she's a scientist, you see. And she knows enough to expose us."

Dell looked at the front of the silent dark house, perplexed. "So why are we here? Are you going to take her to the monastery?"

"Oh, no. That's only for our kind. No, I'm not going to hurt Bette. And I won't let Ross hurt her. Can you figure out why I'd do that? Risk our safety for this mortal?"

Dell stared at him and he opened his mind to her, his heart. She reached out to touch his consciousness, and knowledge dawned in her eyes. "You love her," she whispered. "Oh, Mentor."

Mentor reached up to rub his forehead as if he could make his mind obey his command to release him from this insanity. "Yes," he said, "yes, I've fallen in love with a mortal again. After being so long alone. After suffering the loneliness of a century. After knowing what I know. After visiting Madeline and those like her held prisoner so they won't do harm to all the rest of us.'

"And after warning me so many times," Dell added.

"Do you see all the dangers, Dell? Don't you understand the agony of it? This woman does not love me. She has a lover and will likely marry him. They will have children and grow old together and die. That is as it should be. I'll attend this woman's funeral in the future and I'll grieve. I'll love her from a distance, stay separate from her, never be a part of her life, never feel her hand stroke my face or feel her gaze of love grace me. But I will do that because . . . why? Why would I not try to make her love me back, Dell? I probably could if I tried, you know. But why wouldn't I?"

Dell didn't answer though he was certain she knew the answer. She simply hung her head in sadness. Mentor put his arm around her shoulder. "Let's go home," he said. "You must think this all over. You're not a child anymore. You understand the complexity of who and what you are and the consequences of whatever decision you make in this matter." And I have done all I can do, Mentor thought.

He glanced back at the house as they walked away. He wished he'd never gone there, never seen Bette Kinyo. It was a tragedy in the making, the woman in that house. He might have to protect her from Ross or other Predators who found out about her. She might even cause a war among the ranks of vampires in this city. All because he had foolishly let his heart feel something again.

Upton felt excitement rush through him like bared strands of electricity touching and sparking. "Start the car, George. Follow them."

By the time George had the car turned around at the next intersection, the old man and girl were several blocks away. "No, wait," Upton commanded. "Stop the car, pull over there, to the curb."

George did as instructed.

"I've got to go on foot. They're going to see this damn big boat following them. Come on and help me, George. Help me!"